The UK's Competitive and Markets Authority is set to investigate Amazon over alleged anti-competitive practices.

The probe will examine whether Amazon has a dominant position in the UK and whether it is giving an unfair advantage to its own retail business compared to other third-party sellers on the Amazon UK Marketplace.

The CMA indicated that the investigation will focus on three main areas: how Amazon collects and uses third-party seller data, how Amazon sets criteria for allocation of suppliers to be the preferred choice in the ‘Buy Box’, and how Amazon sets the eligibility criteria for selling under the Prime label.

A large proportion of goods sold are supplied by third-party sellers. Amazon provides services to these sellers, including those that are essential to make sales, such as matching sellers with consumers. 

The optional ‘Fulfilment by Amazon’ service for an additional fee offers benefits to customers who use the site such as sales process, including storage, packaging, and delivery.

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“Millions of people across the UK a rely on Amazon for fast delivery,” said CMA general counsel Sarah Cardell.

“Thousands of UK businesses use Amazon to sell products and it is important they are able to operate in a competitive market. Any loss of competition is a loss to consumers and could lead to them paying more for products, being offered lower quality items or having less choice.”

A spokesperson for Amazon said it would work closely with the CMA during the investigation.

“We believe we’ve always worked hard to help small businesses selling on Amazon to succeed, which is in both their and our best interests,” the company stated.

Previously, the European Commission has opened two investigations covering the same areas. The CMA will seek to work with the European Commission as its own investigation into the company progresses.